True Stories: Martha Part III

“That’s Me, That’s My Story.”

While her father did rescue her from her mother’s abuse, he was very consumed by work and was not a warm or caring person toward her or her sister.  Martha speaks of his frequent verbal abuse.  He would speak about his hopes that at least one daughter would go to college and make something of herself and then without thinking would follow it up with angry accusing words.

“Parents make mistakes.” Martha simply stated at one point in this interview.

At Baltz, she was placed at a listening station with other English language learners to learn English vocabulary and over the following months, she slowly got accustomed to her new life.  In 5th grade, she transferred to Jack L. Cuban School in the Roosevelt School District.  At first she was much happier there because there were more students who spoke Spanish.  She could do reading in Spanish but school remained a challenge and she was too shy to ask for help.  After a few weeks, though, it became clear to her that the school and the neighborhood was much rougher and scarier than Baltz.  She stayed at Cuban through the eighth grade and then dropped out of school to live with her boyfriend.

She had her first baby at sixteen.

Please check back daily over the rest of this week for more of Martha’s True Story.